FOX NHL Saturday
NHL on Fox is a television program that televised National Hockey League games on [[Fox Sports|'Fox']] and produced by [[Fox Sports|'Fox Sports']]. The program ran from the 1994–1995 NHL season until the 1998–1999 NHL season. Fox paid $31 million a year to televise the NHL. FoxTrax FoxTrax (colloquially called the glow puck, smart puck, or super puck) was a specialized ice hockey puck with internal electronics that allow its position to be tracked that was designed for NHL telecasts on Fox. Primarily, it was used to visually highlight the puck on-screen and display a trail when the puck was moving rapidly. Stanley Cup playoff coverage During the 1st 2 rounds of the playoffs, 2 games were televised each round. All-Star Game, Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals For the [[National Hockey League All-Star Game|'All-Star Game']], Conference Finals, and [[List of Stanley Cup champions|'Stanley Cup Finals']], (which were national games) were hosted from the arena. The 1996 and 1997 All-Star Games were televised in prime time. Stanley Cup Finals [[Fox Broadcasting Company|'Fox']] split coverage of the [[List of Stanley Cup champions|'Stanley Cup Finals']] with [[ESPN National Hockey Night|'ESPN']]. Game 1 of the [[1995 Stanley Cup Finals|'1995 Stanley Cup Finals']] was the first Finals game shown on network television since [[1980 Stanley Cup Finals|'1980']] and the first in prime time since [[1973 Stanley Cup Finals|'1973']]. Games 1, 5, and 7 were usually scheduled to be televised by [[Fox Broadcasting Company|'Fox']]; Games 2, 3, 4, and 6 by [[ESPN|'ESPN']]. However from [[1995 Stanley Cup Finals|'1995']] -[[1998 Stanley Cup Finals|'1998']], the Finals were all 4 game sweeps; [[1999 Stanley Cup Finals|'1999']] Finals ended in 6 games. The consequence was that - except for [[1995 Stanley Cup Finals|'1995']], when [[Fox Broadcasting Company|'Fox']] did televise Game 4 - the Game 7 was never on network television. Had there been a Game 7, then [[Mike Emrick|'Mike Emrick']] (play-by-play), [[John Davidson (ice hockey)|'John Davidson']] (color commentator), and [[Pierre McGuire|'Pierre McGuire']] (reporter) would've called the Game 7 on [[Fox Broadcasting Company|'FOX']]. Perhaps in recognition of this, Games 3–7 were always televised by ABC in the succeeding broadcast agreement between the NHL and [[NHL on ABC|'ABC Sports']]/ESPN. 1995-1999, [[Pierre McGuire|'Pierre McGuire']]' '''joined as "Ice Level Reporter" for 1995-1999 Game 4 of the 1995 Final was notable because not only did the New Jersey Devils win the Stanley Cup, but also their main television play-by-play announcer, [[Mike Emrick|'Mike Emrick']] announced it. Coverage overview Regular season Fox televised between 2 and 6 regional games from 1995-1999, except for 1996 between 'Detroit Red Wings' vs 'Dallas Stars. All times below are Eastern. 1994-95 1995-96 *Denotes use of [[FoxTrax|'''FoxTrax]] puck. 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 # The Detroit Red Wings vs Dallas Stars game was Ed Belfour's memorial game starts at 3 p.m. ET on [[Fox Broadcasting Company|'FOX']]: [[Mike Emrick|'Mike Emrick']], and [[John Davidson (ice hockey)|'John Davidson']]' '''on the call for the 'Detroit Red Wings' and 'Dallas Stars' game. # Denotes use of [[FoxTrax|'FoxTrax']] puck. FoxTrax '''FoxTrax' (colloquially called the glow puck, smart puck, or super puck) was a specialized ice hockey puck with internal electronics that allow its position to be tracked that was designed for NHL telecasts on Fox. Primarily, it was used to visually highlight the puck on-screen and display a trail when the puck was moving rapidly. 1995 # The June 24 game in New Jersey was the Stanley Cup Finals' deciding game as the New Jersey Devils swept the Detroit Red Wings. Although [[Fox Broadcasting Company|'FOX']] did retain rights to certain other games where the Cup could be decided (including any and all Game 7), 1995 was the only time during its run as NHL broadcaster that [[Fox Broadcasting Company|'FOX']] actually carried the Cup-clinching victory on-air. 1996 #Denotes use of [[FoxTrax|'FoxTrax']] puck. 1997 1998 1999 Main broadcast team, studio hosts and analysts The main broadcast team was [[Mike Emrick|'Mike Emrick']], and [[John Davidson (ice hockey)|'John Davidson']], while regionally distributed games were handled by a variety of announcers and added popular is Inside the Glass reporter [[Pierre McGuire|'Pierre McGuire']]. In the first four years of the deal, James Brown and Dave Maloney hosted the show from the Fox studio in Los Angeles. In the final year, it was Suzy Kolber and Terry Crisp. Stanley Cup Finals broadcast schedules *1995 - Games 1, 4-5, 7 on [[Fox Broadcasting Company|'Fox']]; Games 2-3, 6 on [[ESPN National Hockey Night|'ESPN']] *1996 - Games 1, 3, 5, 7 on [[Fox Broadcasting Company|'Fox']]; Games 2, 4, 6 on [[ESPN National Hockey Night|'ESPN']] *1997 - Games 1, 5, 6, 7 on [[Fox Broadcasting Company|'Fox']]; Games 2, 3, 4 on [[ESPN National Hockey Night|'ESPN']] *1998 - Games 1, 5, 7 on [[Fox Broadcasting Company|'Fox']]; Games 2-4, 6 on [[ESPN National Hockey Night|'ESPN']] *1999 - Games 1-2, 5, 7 on [[Fox Broadcasting Company|'Fox']]; Games 3-4, 6 on [[ESPN National Hockey Night|'ESPN']] The end of NHL on Fox Things ended badly between [[Fox Broadcasting Company|'Fox']] and the league when the NHL announced a new TV deal with [[ESPN National Hockey Night|'ESPN']] that also called for [[NHL on ABC|'ABC']] to become the new [[Television network|'network TV']] partner. Fox challenged that it had not been given a chance to match the network component of the deal, but ABC ultimately prevailed. It is speculated, however, that Fox may again bid for NHL broadcast rights when they next come up for renewal. Personalities Commentator Crews # [[Mike Emrick|'Mike Emrick']]-[[John Davidson (hockey player)|'John Davidson']] # Kenny Albert-Joe Micheletti # Sam Rosen-Mickey Redmond # Jiggs McDonald-Peter McNab # Dick Stockton-Mike Eruzione # Dave Strader-Brian Engblom # Pat Foley-Darren Pang Studio commentators * James Brown: Studio host (1994–1998) * Terry Crisp: Studio analyst (1998–1999) * Suzy Kolber: Studio host (1998–1999) * Dave Maloney: Studio analyst (1994–1998) Ratings Stanley Cup Finals Regular season All-Star Game References External links *Fox Sports - NHL *TV Theme - FOX, Hockey Theme.wav *Puck The Media - Great Moments from The NHL on FOX *'The506 Broadcast Maps Forum » the506.com Forums » Sports Broadcasting History' **1995 NHL on Fox Schedule **1996 NHL on Fox Schedule **1997 NHL on Fox Schedule **1998 NHL on Fox Schedule **1999 NHL on Fox Schedule *Videos of the Week - NHL on Fox *''NHL on Fox'' - Google Search (timeline) **1994-95 **1995-96 **1996-97 **1997-98 **1998-99 *The Suitor Tutor, Part 3: All The Rest Category:Media